Oh, goodness.... I will be going through this thread.
I've been going through a screening for ADD and I'm not sure if it fits or if I just have executive management disorder (or something else entirely). I can't take the meds to find out if they help (don't feel comfortable since dd is breastfeeding).

But I've been meaning to search for some kind of thread like that here, and happened upon this today.

Jessica

Jessica.. Falling in love all over again..... Dh, Joshua Rebeccaand . for Laura

Yes, he is a boy who loves to eat food. The doctor told me that until I wean i should only take a 10mg ritalin as needed, after he is weaned I go on wellbutrin and a higher dose of ritalin.

Ideally, having him weaned before i take any sort of medication would be optimal. However, he is so attached to nursing at this point in his life, i think it would be very traumatic on him to stop.

The doctor took the pro vs con approach and told me i should take this small amount once a day. So far, i have taken one 10 mg pill in the last 3 weeks. So I am doing ok there.

I probably could should have taken more, as i have not been able to keep up or keep my mind focused. Except the last 2 days, i have been more productive because i am keeping my bible open to some verses that are helping me get more done. Albeit, only some. Any change is good, right?

Yay for progress! Yes, any is good. I think we're all over on the new thread, or heading there.

Heidi posted this for someone else, you could ask in BFing if someone has a Hale's Medication and Mother's Milk.
"My sister looked up the meds commonly used for ADD/ADHD in her PDR (Physician's Desk reference) and they are mostly class C for pregnancy/nursing, which means if the benefits outweigh the risks FOR YOU, it's ok to take them under supervision. I'm right where you are right now, but I'm chosen to jsut muddle through. Good luck making your decision!"

ok, you know what the problem with finding systems that help my brain function is?

I : loose the systems all the : time.

I have found the greatest little calendar with the right colors and size space to right and format but usually I have to spend 30 min looking for it when I need it. I have 3 kids, I do not have 30 min several times a day too look for a : calendar.

I would make a home for it and every.time.you.use.it, put it back there. On a shelf or a spot on your kitchen counter, close where you work and record things. I want to get a wide paper/envelope holder. Sorta like this.

And, BTW, we're all over here, in case you're wondering, we're all over here now because this thread was so long.

Hi. I am jumping in here. I haven't introduced myself yet, but have checked out this tribe a few times. I'm not real active on the boards so my apologies for just barging in and begging for help, but I really need some advice.

Unfortunately, I need it very quickly, so I don't know if anyone will read this soon enough to help. But here goes...

I need help talking with my supervisior and administrator about my ADD and my job performance.

Background. I work in healthcare. I have a great job which is quite flexible and quite interesting. But with the flexibility comes a lot of change, in schedule and routine, etc. Which I struggle a bit to keep up with, but it's good b/c it keeps me interested.

But I have a really, really hard time with punctuality. I always have been time-challenged. I struggled to be on time every single day. And I am late more often than not. Most of the time it's 5 or 10 min. But sometimes it's longer. And I'm not just late getting to work in the morning, I have trouble with lunch and dinner breaks, etc. It's been a problme my whole life and I still fight it.

I don't need any advice on what to do to be on time. (Well, I might, but that's not the reason I'm posting.) I try lots of stuff and it helps for awhile, but eventually I get distracted or the new cues/alarms/reminders/whatever become too familiar and cease to motivate me. When I'm focusing really hard on it, I do fairly well. But as soon as I let my guard down even a little, I start to slide.

The same thing goes for other attention-based elements of work. I can lose track of time at work too. Or get absorbed in something and not hear what someone is saying. Or if I hear it, it just "goes right in one ear and out the other". Or I hear and start to do the task and then something pulls me away and I don't get back on task. And this is the same as the tardy thing. With great effort, I can compensate. But as soon as I'm not focusing on those efforts, I am back at square one.

And that's the problem. I do great awhile. Then I start to slip. Then people start getting annoyed. Then eventually they're annoyed enough that my supervisor talks to me. Then I focus super hard and pull it all together for awhile, but I can't keep up the superhuman effort forever. I have a dh working full-time and four kids and some assorted life stresses that demand my attention too. When I have to focus so much energy on work, I can't focus as much in other places. And eventually those other parts of my life start to get crazy and disorganized enough that I can no longer maintain the intensive focus at work.

And you can see where this is going right? It's around and around the same old tired track. So now my supervisor is frustrated. Why can't she just talk to me once and have it stay "fixed". She is frustrated (and everyone else) that I do fine for awhile and then she has to talk to me again.

I understand. I really do. I feel frustrated too. But I *know* there's no FIX for me. I just have to keep plugging along and doing the best I can and trying not to overextend myself so there's enough of me to perform well in all areas, etc. And I'm totally NOT trying to make excuses. I'm not saying "this is the way I am so take it or leave it". But I know that I will always struggle. And so I don't know how to respond to this. I don't know what to say.

My supervisor asked what she could do to help. I said that I thought I would benefit from more frequent reminders or feedback, so that if my performance started to slip noticeably, then I would be given a reminder *sooner* so people wouldn't get so frustrated and I could maybe focus back in faster. But she just says, "but I talk to you and it changes only a little while and then it's back to the same thing". And that's where she doesn't understand. She thinks I should just change *permanently* as a result of being talked to. But I can't. I'm trying. But I would need complete rewiring. Yet, I am trying. The evidence of that is that I *do* respond to feedback. If I can't make permanent change, then is it possible that *ongoing* feedback might be a reasonable solution?

Any other ideas?

For the record, my job record is otherwise great. Patients and staff like me. I'm perceived as a hard worker, patient, cheerful, energetic, approachable, sensitive, smart, etc. All good reports in everthing else. Just no sense of time and very distractable so I get off-task or forget stuff.

How do I talk to them w/o sounding like I'm just making excuses for bad behavior or laziness? How do I let them know I care a lot, but I struggle really hard to achieve this? Can anyone think of ways I can work better with my employer/staff/peers in this regard?

Catharine,
((Hugs)) kudos to you for being so honest about the situation and looking for solutions. I just wanted to clarify something that might end up being useful to others... Have you told your supervisor you have ADD? If not, is there a reason you would decide not to tell your supervisor?
I'm really new with all of this, so not the person to be dishing out advice, but I would guess that if you have a good relationship with your supervisor (which it sounds like you do) if she understood the ADD more, it would be easier to come up with an appropriate way to assist you. And I'm pretty sure there are resources out there specific to job situations and resources for employees and supervisors....

THanks Jessjgh1. I will go check out the new thread. Should I copy my post there? Guess I will. And yes, my supervisor does know about the add. I have talked about it at work before when I have talked about some of these recurring issues. We are always rotating the staff we work with and so I never have the same assistant every day and that makes it all even harder. Some assistants are really good with me, they know how to keep me on track and are comfortable approaching me and making requests, giving reminders, being very assertive, etc. I do a better job when I am paired with someone who understands how to work best with me. Others who are more shy or quiet or less comfortable with the amount of leadership they need to assert or are fearful of approaching or reminding me, well when we work together, things get really disjointed. Mind you, that is NOT a criticism of anyone. I don't work with any assistants who I think are less than excellent at what they do. It's just a personality thing. My fave assistant was a nurse who used to joke about being my "coach" for the day. lol! She was so awesome. She made the days go great b/c she brought out the best in me. I sure miss her (she took another job).

But gee, am I ever rambling... lol! I'm told that's an add trait too. So you all will understand, right?

2 kids has been seriously whipping my butt lately. I'm overwhelmed and then when I get overwhelmed, I shut down, and life become piles of overdue and half done procrastinated stuff piling up around me.

I'm so depressed. I been on Zoloft but it's just not cutting it.

My youngest one is 5 months old and exlusively breastfed. Does anyone take ad/hd meds while breastfeeding? I'm seriously drawing a blank as to what to do. Should I not take meds and provide my youngest what is best, or do I take meds, risk making my supply dwindle, but at least my kids have a halfway together mom who can interact with them, keep a house halfway decent enough for them to thrive in and have enough motivation to take them out to the park or somewhere every now and again?